Women Stockings Wetting Themselves

(Article extracted from spiritual treasury of Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk)

Christians! Our life is as a path that connects the village to another, one city to another. Our life is a journey that we follow constantly. We slept, or that we ensure we follow him forever. We borrow it from our birth and we leave to our death. For some, this path is very long, for others it is very short, but anyway, its end, nobody knows. We do not know when we reach the end of our road. This was decided by the Lord who provides all things, so we're still waiting to go, and we prepare ourselves.

Some paths are large and spacious, other close and tight. It's the same path of our lives. But look at what these paths, spacious or cramped, and we understand how to run one or the other drives.

On the broad way is unbelief, on the narrow path is the living faith. On the broad way the absence of fear, on the narrow path the fear of God. On the broad road will own and disobedience, on the narrow path of submission and obedience. On the broad road of self-love without limit, on the narrow path of God's love and brother. On the way love the spacious vanities of the world, on the narrow path the flight of these vanities. On the broad way the search for honors, fame and wealth, on the narrow path the contempt of all these things. On the way spacious luxury and lust, on the narrow path of temperance, fasting and abstinence. On the broad road of pride and pomp, on the narrow path of humility. On the broad way the sins and iniquities, on the narrow path virtues. On the broad road of depravity, adultery and all the impurities, on the narrow path of innocence and purity. On the broad way drunkenness and indecency on the narrow path of sobriety and decency. On the broad road robbery, kidnapping, looting, violence and the injustice on the narrow path distance from it all and the attainment of justice. On the broad road rage, rage, revenge, revenge in words and deeds, on the narrow path of vengeance contempt, gentleness and patience. On the broad road toughness, fierceness and cruelty, on the narrow path of mercy and compassion. On the broad way of calumny, contempt, insults and abuse trial to the next, on the narrow path of this forbearance and silence reasonable. On the broad road lies, malice, deceit and hypocrisy, on the narrow path candor and words that correspond to thoughts. On the broad way the words, deeds and thoughts contrary to the will of God, on the narrow path of sincere repentance and its fruits, good deeds.

So you see, a Christian, how are the paths of our lives! The broad way, contrary to God, He is unpleasant. The narrow path, however, is pleasing to Him, for he agrees to His holy will. The broad road leads man to destruction, while the narrow path leads to life.

Satan attracts and leads us all the way to spacious, but Christ the Saviour, who suffered and died for all of us, reminding us on the narrow path. Think! Who should we listen to Christ, or Satan? Which path should you follow? the way that leadeth to destruction, or the narrow path that leads to life? Christ our Lord wants to lead you to eternal life, He who loves you free. But Satan, your enemy wants you lead him to perdition. Hear the words of your Savior, who deserve attention, hold them in your heart, and educate yourself with them! Be attentive to yourself, and what they say: Enter through the narrow gate. Large, indeed, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and there are many who engage in it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and there are few who located. (Mt.7 0.13 to 14) And the Holy Apostle adds this: We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of heaven. (Act.14: 22) Lead me, Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in Thy truth, that my heart rejoices to fear Your Name. (Ps.85: 11) And in turn teaches Psalm 118? It teaches us how to pray to the Lord Himself teaches us His way, we maintain, and lead us always on her.

Co Człowiek Czuje Gdy Umiera

THE WAY THE ICON OF THE MOTHER OF GOD " OF JERUSALEM "

According to a pious tradition, the prototype of the icon of the Mother of God Jerusalem has been painted by the Apostle Saint Luke in Gethsemane fifteen years after the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Emperor Leo the Great made Constantinople to carry the icon to install it in the church dedicated to the Mother of God Source . Later, at the time of Emperor Heraclius, Constantinople was attacked by the Scythians, and the salvation of the city was obtained by the prayers of the Greek people before the icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem . After this miraculous manifestation of the mercy of the Queen of Heaven the pious emperor ordered that the holy icon was carried into the church Blachernae, where she remained for nearly three hundred years.

the early X th century, the Russian campaign against Constantinople made and carried the icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem in Cherson. Subsequently, after his baptism in the same city, Prince Vladimir in Kiev won the icon. Later, the inhabitants of Novgorod received the Christian faith, the great prince sent them the icon as a blessing. She lived more than four hundred years in the Cathedral Hagia Sophia.

the middle of the sixteenth century, Novgorod fell into the hands of the tsar Ivan the Terrible, who was transported to Jerusalem icon in Moscow, where she was placed in the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God.

During the French invasion in 1812, the icon was stolen and taken to Paris. Assume it is now at Notre Dame.

Copying Moscow

We keep Moscow in the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, a copy of the icon of Jerusalem which was originally the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God yf ctyz x . On the sides of the copy represented the Holy Apostles Peter, Paul, Luke, Simon, Philip, Matthew, Marc, Jacques, Thomas and Bartholomew, and the holy martyrs Procope, George and Mercury.

The copy of Constantinople

Another copy of the icon Jerusalem was transported from Jerusalem to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, where she remained for the XII th ^{the XV th century} . According to some sources, a church dedicated to this icon in the city existed in the XI and XII ^th th centuries.

Copying Krivoezerskaïa Poustynia,

in government Kostroma

Krivoezersk The monastery was founded in 1644, at the time of the patriarch Joseph. He made about him in 1709 and the years that followed, was painted when the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem . The icon remained in the monastery thereafter.

In the year 1709, many fans of solitude and ascetic feats came to settle in the monastery, among them Cyril Ulanova, iconographer of the Tsar, who was tonsured under the name of Cornelius. Before his arrival, Father Cornelius had the desire make a copy of the miraculous icon of Jerusalem the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Moscow. So he began immediately to work. Let's hear the story of the abbot Leonce

"As I lived in Pererva, a village on a bend of the Moskva, in the monastery dedicated to the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God and Saint Nicolas The thought occurred to me to get a pearl of great price, a rich treasure of the monastery Krivoezersky, near-Iourevets Poloski: I wanted to convince a good picture editor to make Moscow a copy of the most glorious and miraculous icon Jerusalem our Intercessor Almighty, the Protector of Christians, the Most Pure Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary. I was pursued by the tenacious desire manhandling my soul, and I went frequently to the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God piously venerate the miraculous icon. I raised toward our All-merciful Protector of Pure and ardent prayers so that she would have mercy on us and that she was willing to give His monastery Krivoezersk the same divine image than the Cathedral Moscow, by the way she and her son chose.

I do not know how it happened, but a year later, probably by the will of God and His Mother, I had totally forgotten that desire, and his thought will cross my mind even more .

In 1709, I was still living at the monastery of Saint-Nicolas Pererva. One day, I heard people telling that some Iourevets Cyril Ulanova, a native of Moscow and pious iconography of Tsar had been tonsured to the monastery Krivoezersky under the name of Cornelius. They said he had painted a icon Jerusalem our All-Holy Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary Cathedral of the monastery dedicated to the Holy and Life. The icon, whose dimensions are slightly smaller than that of Moscow, was said to be very beautiful and quite amazing. Upon hearing this story, I wondered at God's mercy and kindness of the Queen of Heaven. I remembered my desire to see past a painted copy of the icon from Moscow to the Monastery Krivoezersky. In unspeakable joy, I rushed to Moscow to venerate the icon of the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and give thanks to the Protector of Christians and our God His Son. God had manifested His benevolence towards the monastery Krivoezersk! Later, I heard that the father had left the Crow Krivoezersk monastery shortly after painting the icon! So everything had happened as if it had been sent to the monastery only to do this work! It was for me another opportunity to glorify God and our Blessed Sovereign.

must say that at that time I did not intend to settle in Desert Krivoezersk. I do not also stroked the hope of seeing the divine icon that had just been painted. I was just saying to myself: "Glory to God and His Mother! By divine providence, a treasure was given to the monastery!

In 1711, it happened that God's will and demand of the monks of the monastery put me to the position of Abbot of Krivoezersk. Shortly after arriving in Moscow, I entered the church to see this divine treasure that I had so desired, this glory and joy of Christians, icon Jerusalem our Sovereign Mother of God. As my soul rejoices to have been worthy to see and worship!

icon was solemnly blessed this year, Aug. 20, shortly after the Dormition, and a special feast was established in his honor. The abbot and his entire community promised God to renew the solemn veneration every year in remembrance of God's gift. We wanted to give thanks and glory to our God in the Trinity and His merciful Mother for the award the monastery of the pearl without price, and the momentum of their incredible kindness.

It is useful here to say a few words about the monk Cornelius. Just tonsured, he quickly began to paint the icon of our Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, in her arms her divine child, the Son and God, our Lord Jesus Christ. As befits the newly tonsured monk, he lived in piety, fear, and temperance, respecting the tradition of the Holy Father who commands to fast for forty days. Through the intercession of the Most Pure Mother of God, God gave him such a compunction that her tears flowed continuously while he painted the soft features and divine Queen of Heaven and His Son, the Most Sweet Jesus. He refrained from talking during work, our Protector, and prayed constantly to have mercy on him, that his work lead him to the monastery with all the joy and salvation. This compunction animated all his prayers, day and night. With the help of God and His Most Pure Mother, he finished the divine icon. The result was so beautiful, so unexpected, that he was surprised and seized with fear. He praised God and His Most Pure Mother for mercy. Before the end the period of forty days after the tonsure, the hieromonks the monastery could pick up the completed icon in his cell and bring merrily to church. Even today, when thinking of the time he painted this icon, her soul is filled with gentleness and joy.

It must therefore believe that this miraculous icon of the Most Holy Mother of God of Jerusalem was painted by a special effect of the providence of God and His All-Holy Mother. "

From 1711, Following a request from area residents who worshiped many, it became customary to bring the icon in the parish churches and among the inhabitants of the offices of thanksgiving. This custom was upheld in 1720 by Bishop Pitirim, Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod.

The first documented glorification of the holy icon was in 1781. On 22 December of that year, a large fire broke out at the monastery. He soon all buildings, especially the wooden church of Saint Nicolas and its bell tower. Then he reached the stone church dedicated the Holy Trinity and its bell tower, under the helpless eyes of brothers to control the raging elements. It was with horror they watched pieces the church burst into flames and go up in smoke. The fire gained throughout the building, exposing the holy icon to an inevitable destruction. Yet, although the fire had penetrated inside the church remains. The icons were damaged and covered with soot, puffy paints, but the icon Jerusalem was spared, residing as bright, clear and clean before. We could only watch on the wrist of the left hand of the All-Pure the blister from a burn, which subsided with time but still visible, as if to attest that the hand had suffered.

On July 4, 1859, at eleven o'clock, a fire broke out in a resident-Iourevets Poloski, called Alexander Lougovsky because of a careless worker. As a strong wind blowing at that time, the fire spread to the surrounding houses, and fourteen owners lost their homes and property. It seemed inevitable that the fire would win the other houses and three churches close, as the wind fanned the fire and threw off sparks. The roofs of some buildings is beginning to catch fire.

But now the Lord God was willing to show mercy to sinners. It was only this time the cathedral of the city hosted the precious icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem Monastery Krivoezersk. The inhabitants of Iourevets had indeed claimed the holy and venerable icon for a procession around the city. All resources deployed against the fire proving ineffective, residents petitioned the rector of the Cathedral to please drive icon on the premises. As we took it with all the honors due to him, the wind turned north-east to north-west and the sparks stopped raining on the city. The fire seemed to die down, we brought the icon to the cathedral. However, to everyone's surprise, the wind began to blow from the northwest, the fire flared up, and sparks again threatened the city. The people, measuring the miracle protection and intercession of the Mother of God, made back the holy icon. The tide turned again. This times the icon was kept on the premises until the fire was completely extinguished. The inhabitants of the city, all witnesses of the miracle, insisted that it was published, as a testimony for generations to come.

Intercession of the Mother of God was not limited to fires. It is also necessary during epidemics of cholera, which fell on Krivoezersk and its surroundings in 1848 and 1853. Wherever it was the holy icon, the contagion ceased, or the deadly effects disappeared. It was the same in the case of an epidemic, as the monastery than in villages. There were also cases of cures of patients, including two young girls who participated in processions with the miraculous icon.

The copy of the Russian monastery

St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos

This holy icon is in a Clad in glass, located above the royal doors of the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God. Was wont make it down on occasion with the wide velvet ribbon embroidered on its Troparion which it is suspended, to be offered for veneration. It was painted in 1825 by the monastery Krivoezersky hierodeacon Nikon (Nile in full dress), who sent a gift to the monastery of St. Panteleimon in 1850.

on this icon, the All Holy Virgin holds the Infant God, our Lord Jesus Christ on His right arm, contemplating one who relies on it as on a throne of glory. The Lord blesses His right hand, fingers folded forming the letters IC. His left hand holds a roll. On the banks of the icon are represented St. Joachim and St. Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the back, one can find an inscription saying that the icon was painted by Hieromonk Nikon's monastery of St. Nil-de-la-Sora, who wanted, as a result of a special incentive of providence, bear witness his zeal for the Russian monastery of Panteleimon Anargyri and great martyr, and the benevolence of God and the All-Holy Mother of God.

When the icon came to the monastery, they sent a letter to Nikon hieromonk asking him to explain, if possible, How was this particular incentive. By letter dated December 12, 1852, Father Nikon says that thirty years ago, when he was still hierodeacon and lived in the desert Krivoezersk he had been impressed by the miracles of the icon of the monastery. He decided to paint an exact copy, except as regards dimensions. During the blessing of the icon, there was a sign, a self-fulfilling prophecy clearly, and subsequently, other manifestations of grace. Later, he left, according to the will of God, move to the monastery Saint-Nil, then almost deserted. The icon never left him. She served as a balm for the soul and the heart in tribulation. The grace of the icon would cure diseases, protect the fire ... He had never intended to part ways, but the providence of God and His All-Holy Mother had other plans. He prayed the fathers of the Monastery of St. Panteleimon to believe, and do not doubt that the icon they had been sent by God and the benevolence of the Queen of Heaven. He also asked that did not require him more details. However, so they do not feel offended, he added at the end of his letter the story of a dream he had had two months before sending the icon: "I seemed to see the Holy Mountain of Athos. I was beginning to climb the slopes, accompanied by a person who was my guide and claimed to have already traveled to Mount Athos. We approached a rocky escarpment, there is no word to say how difficult it was to make the ascent. My companion climbed with ease, and I fear and force only. However, until we reached a place where my guide became invisible. I suspect that this guide was none other than my old St. Nil of Sora. It seemed quite impossible to continue to climb on these rocks. The fear I won. I continued anyway and succeeded on a promontory where there was a church. My soul and my heart filled with joy, reverence and fear: I saw near the entrance of the church an extraordinarily beautiful woman, dressed in clothes as white as snow. His gaze was friendly and affectionate. She said she saw me: 'Fortunately, you have come quickly! " She then gave me a spoon on a white liquid like milk, ineffably sweet taste. " Take this, you need it, you're tired, "This Woman God then uttered the words untold and told me to send my holy icon at Russian monastery on Mount Athos. After sending the icon, all that the Sovereign had promised was fulfilled, the hermitage of the Monastery of St. Nil-de-la-Sora was declared independent, the church dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner on where had lived Saint Nile was finally consecrated after ten years of waiting, my desire to receive the full dress and remain near the said church in the cell of St. Nilus was filled, and many other things. " The letter ends with these words: "Glory, grandeur and honor to the Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God! "

At vigils of feasts of the Mother of God, we descend the holy icon with honor and celebrated a Akathist before her at the end of which the abbot and all the brothers worship, bow to the ground and ask to the Mother of God his help and intercession before her Son and our God.

Celebrating the holy icon October 12th.

Mom Made Me Wear Girdle

ENTRY OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE OF LIFE

HOMILY ON THE LORD AND THE HOLY RENCONTE ON THE PURIFICATION OF THE ALL-PURE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD AND

(St. Dimitri of Rostov)

Forty days have elapsed after the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the time of purification imposed by the Act was gone, and the Virgin Mother, all pure and all-blessed , St. Joseph left Bethlehem with her fiance, carrying in her arms the Christ. She sailed for Jerusalem, to accomplish two ordinances of the Lord: be obtained by the prayers of the priest and the offering of a sacrifice to God, purification following the birth and spend her little firstborn child to the Lord by paying amount dictated by God to Moses.

Indeed, as mandated by the Act for the purification of the mother, when a woman is pregnant and bear a male, she shall be unclean for seven days. On the eighth day, the child shall be circumcised. It will still thirty-three days to purify his blood. Meanwhile, she shall touch no holy thing and will not enter the sanctuary until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. When the days of her purifying are completed, it will provide a lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. If it was not enough to buy a lamb, it will take two doves or two young pigeons, one for the Holocaust, the other for a sin offering. The priest will pray for her and she is pure .

Upon presentation of the firstborn child to the Lord, it is said: Consecrate Me every male firstborn (...) You will give me the first of your son . This donation was prescribed to the Israelites in appreciation of great benefit received in Egypt, when God slew the firstborn of the Egyptians, but pardoned the firstborn of Israel. Since that time, the Israelites were driving their firstborn son to the temple to dedicate it to God as tribute legal, and He redeemed against a fixed amount, called ransom money. This money belongs to the Levites who officiated at the temple of the Lord. According to an established custom in the fourth book of Moses, the ransom money amounted to five shekels of the sanctuary, twenty gerahs the shekel (Nb.3, 47).

Thus, the Mother of God went to the temple to submit to the law of the Lord, carrying in her arms the Lawgiver Himself. Immaculate, undefiled, incorruptible, and all-pure, she came to ask purification, although it still had no need. How those who had conceived without pleasure and without the assistance of a husband, who gave birth without pain, which had preserved the virginal purity without being the bane of women in childbirth who gave birth to the Source of all purity, have could she be impure? In it Christ was born! The fruit is not tainted by the tree, the tree is not tainted by the fruit: the Holy Virgin remained pure and spotless after the birth of Christ, the blessed fruit. As he crossed the sunlight penetrates the crystal, without breaking nor tarnish. Even more, it enhances its purity. The Sun of Justice does not affect the virginity of his mother all-pure. The usual effusion of blood stained the door not sealed, the seal of purity. Exceeding the natural law, the Lord through that door, that kept the virginity, and rasped the purity and sanctified by His passage, flooding it with light divine grace.

The Word was God-given birth without corruption, no purification was necessary. However, that which is eternally pure and undefiled came the request to show himself in all things obedient to the law. Humility does not suffer from pride in his incorruptible purity. So as impure as the All Holy would stand in the place for new mothers, at the gates of the temple of the Lord. She waited there, without showing any contempt against impure or sinful.

She offered the sacrifice, not as rich, with a lamb a year, but as the poor, with a dove or two young pigeons, showing again, as elsewhere, humility and love of poverty. She pushed the pride of the rich, rewarding the poor and unfortunate gold of the Magi, keeping only the lower part to his trip to Egypt.

Having offered the pair of birds, she presented her first-born son to the Lord, calling to God what is God, under the Act. Kneeling before the Creator, she handed him the child with great respect: "Behold your Son, O Eternal Father, here whom you have sent down here to me that he incarnated for the salvation of men! Here's whom you have created without a mother before the ages, one that by Thy benevolence, I have given birth without a father at the end of time! Here is the first-born of my womb, the Son developed in me through Your Holy Spirit, and left me indescribably, as only you know! Here are my firstborn, He who thee here consubstantial, and, without beginning, returns only you alone, for He has come to you without leaving his divinity! Get this First-born with whom You created all things for centuries and made the light! Get Your Word, incarnate me, with whom You strengthened the heavens, founded the earth, and gathered the waters! Get Me Your Son for the purpose essential that you have arranged for him and for me as you know, to redeem His flesh and blood human race! .

Having uttered these words, the Virgin Mother filed his beloved child in the arms of the high priest, the representative of God, as the hands of God Himself. Then she bought for the price mentioned above, five shekels foreshadowing the five wounds that Christ suffered on the cross to redeem the world from the curse of the Law and the work of the enemy.

According to Saint Gregory of Nyssa, St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Andrew of Crete, the Holy Prophet Zechariah, father of the Forerunner, seeing the all-pure Virgin and Child with advancing women's side impure for purification, placed among the virgins, where no wife should behave. The scribes and Pharisees were indignant at once, but Zachary resisted, claiming that Mother, in spite of childbirth, was still pure and untouched. Faced with skepticism, he recalled that if any creature is subject to the law nature, it is even more so by the Creator of this Act, who is to organize His creation by His powerful hands, and ensure, if it sees fit, a virgin birth and remains a virgin after childbirth. Therefore, he concluded he had not ruled out the all-holy Mother of range of virgins, she, the Virgin par excellence.

Of the meantime, here are just entering the temple, led by the Holy Spirit, San Simeon, an old upright and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel in the Messiah. Knowing the prophecy of the patriarch Jacob, he knew that Christ approached, since the scepter of Judah had fallen into the hands of Herod. In fact Jacob had prophesied that the scepter shall not depart from Judah, there comes the consolation of Israel, Christ the Lord. Moreover, here which had been ended the seventy weeks of Daniel, announcing the coming of the Messiah. The Holy Spirit had promised Simeon that he would not taste death before they see the Lord's Christ. And indeed, when the old man noticed the all-pure Virgin and Child in his arms when he saw the grace of God that surrounded them both, the Holy Spirit revealed to him that had before him the expected Messiah. So he went eagerly to the hug. It is with joy unspeakable, with fear and reverence, he gave thanks to God. Then he sang, like the swan before death, crowned with his bleached hair long, " Now Master you may let your servant depart in peace according to Thy word! No peace was not living my thoughts. Every day I waited for Your coming praying. Now I've seen, and I found peace. It is free from all sorrow that I'm wearing the good news to my fathers. I'm Your report came into the world to Adam our forefather, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, and other fathers, the holy prophets. I'll dump a joy unspeakable to those who until now had known nothing but sadness! Let me go quickly, so that they rejoice in Thee, their Deliverer! Let from Thy servant who longs rest in the bosom of Abraham, after his long years of hard work! I have seen Your salvation prepared for all men! My eyes have seen the light to hunt for darkness, to lighten the Gentiles by the revelation of divine mysteries still unknown. My eyes have seen the Light which burst for the glory of Thy people Israel! As promised in Thy Name the prophet Isaiah: I will put My hello in Zion and My glory over Israel ! "

Hearing the words of the holy and righteous old man uttered the Child, the Bridegroom Joseph and the Virgin Most Pure marveled. Simeon spoke to the child as an old man, he prayed as we pray the God who rules over life and death, which can immediately let an old man from the next life, or detain him in this.

After his speech, Simeon blesses the child, then he glorified and praised this all-immaculate Mother, whom he had been given birth to the God-Man. It also magnified Joseph, foster father, and worthy servant of such a mystery. Contemplating the discerning eyes of his Mother Unwedded, that she, not Joseph, he said: "This is He who is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel. The fall of those who will not believe His words, and rehabilitation of those who receive His holy love with preaching. The fall of the scribes and Pharisees blind malice of sinners and recovery simple and ignorant. Here is one who chooses the foolish to confound the wise of this world, which will cause the downfall of the synagogue of the Jews of the Old Covenant and instituted the Church of Grace. Whoever is here is a sign of contradiction. We deliver a lot of judgments on him. Some say the good, the others accused him of deceiving the people. It will, as said the prophet Jeremiah, a target for the arrows. We hang on the cross, the nails and the spear wound him. And you yourself, O Mother Unwedded, the sword of sorrow will pierce your soul and your heart when you see your Son nailed to the Cross. It is with great sorrow of heart and strength that you will accompany crying at the door of this world The one you children without suffering for the good of humanity. "

But here at this time was in the temple, the prophetess Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher, widow advanced in years. She had only lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and after her widowhood, she had spent every day of his life in the temple to please God, serving Him day and night in fasting and prayer, until his eighty-four. Who also came to attend the Holy Encounter, she prophesied that on this small child had to drive to the temple of the Lord, speaking to everyone who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Witnesses all these wonders, the scribes and Pharisees were angry. They reproached Zechariah have violated the Act by placing a mother who came to ask the purification in the space reserved for virgins. They also harbored resentment against Simeon and Anna for their testimony about Child, so they were unable to silence, and went to tell Herod what had happened at the temple. This was soon find that Christ, the Divine Child for the kill. But it was impossible to find because, on an order from above, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, which he took the Child and the Mother of God, and brought them to Egypt, after a detour through their city of Nazareth in Galilee. L'Enfant, meanwhile, grew and became strong in spirit and in wisdom and grace of God was upon Him.

The Feast of the Meeting of the Lord was introduced the reign of Emperor Justinian. The event was celebrated by the Church before, but in a less solemn. It is this pious emperor who ordered the register among the great feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God. Here's how this happened ...

the reign of Justinian, Constantinople and the surrounding areas experienced an outbreak of plague that lasted several months. The disease appeared in early October. Initially, there were daily between five and ten thousand deaths. It was impossible to bury all the corpses, even those people rich and honorable, as the servants also died. At Antioch, God's punishment was more terrible still. A fever was added for the sins of men, a devastating earthquake that struck down the great houses, tall buildings, and numerous churches . A multitude of people perished under the rubble. The bishop of the city died in the ruins of his cathedral. Pompéopolis in Mysia also was destroyed, and all its inhabitants swallowed by the earth. In these terrible times of death and destruction, a man pleasing to God was the revelation that it was appropriate to celebrate Hypapante, that is to say Meeting of the Blessed Lord, among the other major feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God.

When it came on Feb. 2, the day of the Holy Encounter, was celebrated vigils. As we came out the cross in procession the plague ceased, and with it the earthquake. It praised the very mercy of God and the prayers of His all-pure Mother.

to Christ our God be rendered praise and worship and His Mother, honor and gratitude, for ever and ever, amen!